CPS squeeze: More children in need, fewer foster homes

Cuts in budget, incentives leave agency in lurch

by Mary K. Reinhart - Sept. 3, 2011 12:00 AMThe Arizona Republic

Arizona's foster-care system is overflowing.

Even as the number of children in state Child Protective Services' custody continues to grow, more foster families are closing their doors, squeezed by the recession and state budget cuts that reduced their payments.

The remaining foster homes are full, so caseworkers this summer have placed hundreds of abused and neglected children in group homes and shelters.

Now, even the shelters are forced to turn away children because they have no more room.

Child-welfare experts agree that family settings are the best place for children who have been removed from their homes, particularly for babies and young children. In addition to being hard on kids, the shortage of foster homes puts more pressure on caseworkers scrambling to find placements and on foster parents being asked to take more children.

"There are no beds. So, children go where there's a space," said Kris Jacober, a foster parent who heads the Arizona Association for Foster and Adoptive Parents.

The lack of foster homes puts further strain on an already-stressed CPS system, which has come under scrutiny in recent weeks following the high-profile injuries and deaths of children in its care and has been struggling to keep track of a record number of kids. There were 11,082 children in CPS custody in June.

In recent weeks, children have spent the night in CPS offices while caseworkers searched to find them a safe place to sleep. Caseworkers have placed teens hundreds of miles from home because those were the only beds available. They have been forced to split up siblings and place them across town from each other.

The CPS is putting out an urgent appeal for more foster families.

"We need foster families, from babies to teenagers, that will take sibling groups," said Janice Mickens, family- and youth-services administrator for the state Department of Economic Security, which oversees the CPS.

"It's really hard for us to separate siblings," Mickens said. "It's not something that we want to do."

Foster homes

The state has seen a net loss of more than 300 foster homes since April 2009, following budget reductions to close a midyear deficit.

After lawmakers cut the DES' funding, the department reduced the daily rates paid to foster parents by 20 percent, cut allowances for clothing and school supplies in half, and eliminated stipends for camps and vacations.

Families are now paid just over $20 a day per child, and an additional $2 to $3 a day if they're caring for infants or teens. Arizona foster parents are still paid above the national average, even after the agency reduced its rates.

Foster-home turnover is normal. Of the roughly 3,500 licensed family foster homes, hundreds open and shut their doors every few months. But, for the first time in years, more homes are closing than opening.

The numbers began going south in April 2009. By March 2011, 2,237 foster homes had closed and 1,909 new homes had opened - a gap of 328 homes.

Still, Mickens said more than 80 percent of Arizona's dependent children are in familylike settings, either living with relatives or in family foster homes.

Jacober said she believes the recent exodus of foster families is a combination of the sagging economy and frustration with the child-welfare system. Even the most dedicated caseworker can be hard to reach sometimes, she said.

"The system doesn't always work for the kids, so families get frustrated," she said.

Her group recently surveyed 500 foster families, and 15 percent said they loved the job but could no longer afford to do it.

The state licenses foster families following weeks of training, background checks and a home inspection. It can take about six months to become licensed, and families can bring a maximum of five children into their homes.

Mickens said she wants to ensure that the CPS responds promptly to foster parents.

"They are very important partners, and we need to do what is necessary to get them the answers they need," she said.

'Congregate care'

To compensate for the loss of foster homes, the CPS has appealed to the remaining foster parents and shelter and group-home operators to take more kids.

Threat of a lawsuit several years ago led the state to gradually remove infants and small children from so-called congregate care and place them in the growing number of family foster homes. The California-based Youth Law Center argued that emergency shelters and group homes were inappropriate for children, particularly those under 6.

But earlier this year, child-crisis centers resumed taking young CPS children for the first time in more than two years, including babies and toddlers. Some of the handful of Valley shelters filled up almost immediately and have been turning kids away, according to shelter operators.

Elizabeth Kottoor and her husband operate 20 group homes and four emergency shelters in the West Valley, each with room for 10 children. Kottoor closed five of the homes for nearly two years because of lack of CPS placements, but from October to April, she reopened all of them.

Kottoor said she and her staff must turn away children every day because there is no room. But because of the bed shortage, the CPS and licensing officials agree to "overload" some of her facilities so they can take an additional child. Most often it's done to keep siblings together.

The bed shortage is statewide. Kottoor is housing two teens from Pima County and two others from Yavapai County.

Chris Scarpati recalls getting an urgent call in June asking if she could start taking CPS kids again at her East Valley Child Crisis Center. Within weeks she was full, sheltering 21 children under 12 years old and turning away dozens more.

She said that the children who come to her have been removed for good reason but that finding a haven for the growing number of abused and neglected children is putting further strain on caseworkers and the CPS.

The emergency shelters are intended to be short-term solutions after children are removed from their homes until a more permanent placement can be found or they can be returned to their families.

"The lack of foster homes, for lots of different reasons, is causing more stress on the system," she said. "Caseworkers know in their hearts that once they remove the child, there's not going to be anyplace to put that child."

Mickens acknowledged that children have spent the night in CPS offices with after-hours workers when there are no open beds. That also can happen, she said, because caseworkers are doing background checks before placing children with relatives.

"I've not heard of a large increase in that . . . but we are seeing it happen," she said. "We're doing our best to get these children placed as quickly as possible."

What's ahead

Sen. Rick Murphy, R-Peoria, and his wife are caring for nine children, two of them adopted. He opposed the 2009 foster-care rate reduction imposed by the DES and predicted a drop-off in foster families when lawmakers made the budget cuts.

The rates fall short of the true cost of caring for foster children, he said, and those who were laid off could no longer afford it.

The state plans to resume foster-care-recruitment efforts stalled by budget cuts, but Murphy said he doesn't think that will attract enough families.

Many of his foster children have come with only the clothes on their backs, he said, and the costs of getting those children clothing and school supplies are significant and never fully reimbursed.

"If you provide for your foster kids the way you do for your own kids, you're going to be subsidizing," he said. "There aren't a lot of people who have the resources to do that. It's not that they don't want to. They just can't."

A better option, he said, is to allow current foster families to take more children and streamline the licensing process so the state can make exceptions quickly, preventing multiple placements for siblings.

His most recent foster children, a group of three siblings from Chandler, were separated for weeks because he and his wife had room for just one. They took the 3-year-old and eventually received permission to take her two older siblings, who had been staying in a shelter.

"The 3-year-old had all sorts of emotional issues during the month that the siblings weren't here," Murphy said. "Especially in this environment, we really need to take a look at whether we should have a hard and fast limit of five (children)."

Mickens said she's concerned about exceeding the five-child limit and overloading foster families, financially and emotionally.

"We're responsible for ensuring that those children are in a safe placement," she said.

Nancy Williams has been a foster parent for 17 years and last month adopted two of her foster kids. It pains her to know that infants and small children are going to shelters and group homes

She and her husband are still licensed foster parents, but with seven adopted children and a full-time teaching job, Williams feels she's reached her limit. "It's not a fun decision ... but we have to look out for the needs of our family, too."